From the Cradle
by Turnleaf
Summary: Choose your relatives carefully, so they say... yeah, right. Diana only wishes she could have, but it's all on Spencer now...


A/N: I'm new to this fandom, but not a new writer. See my profile if you're interested in the details of that. This will be several chapters and the prologue is the only section that doesn't have the traditional CM characters. I guess I see it as that little unsub blurb at the start of an episode. Our favorite profilers will be out to play - but no promises to play nice, lol. I debated between T and M for this, the prologue is as detailed as it gets, so I think it'll go as T. If you have thoughts on that, feel free to say. I've always appreciated reviews (don't we all), but the negative ones should be constructive. I finished up 3rd grade name calling a long, long time ago. So, I'm off to harass poor Reid, enjoy!

Prologue

"She was the last one! The! Last! And you… you… imbecile! You killed her! Thirty five years of work down the drain, Kyo will skin us both – if we're lucky – and you're just gonna sit there and grin at me like a damned loon?"

"Well, you are cute when you splutter, Kyla honey."

Kyla stared at her partner in disbelief. "Cute? I am furious! And scared as hell! Can you not imagine what Kyo is going to do?"

Nate shrugged, rolling his neck and shoulders before swiping back long ebony bangs with blood encrusted knuckles. "Imagination isn't really an asset in this line of work. Kyo will be mad, sure, but it's not like the whole project is shot. We've had set backs before – before your time, maybe, but we've weathered them. It's all in knowing how to present the situation."

The petite blonde raised both eyebrows, dumbfounded at his lack of concern. Heck, forget concern, this called for panic. "And I suppose you know all about how to "present it" as you say?"

"Sure, first I come up with some "what next" suggestions – Kyo always takes things better when you have an alternative already in mind. Second, I make sure there's a sizeable prime rib in the oven and enough good Scotch to keep him inebriated until this blows over, and third, I make certain there's a scapegoat for the whole deal that I can offer up on a platter. I've done it before; no biggie. It'll be fine. Calm down."

Kyla took a deep breath in and blew it out, closing her eyes. "Ok. Ok maybe you're right. What about?" She darted her eyes to the dead teenager sprawled behind them, limbs askew. The girl was sixteen at most, dark bronze skin already mottling toward macabre pewter. An obscene array of equipment surrounded the table, but none of it had been of any use.

"Call Freddy or Dan and get them to deal with it and dump the ashes in the greenhouse. No need to deviate from protocol there. Oh, and get Zeke up here on the double. He's my best shot at coming up with a plausible new plan." Nate shoved his hair out of his eyes again, this time twisting it into a stubby ponytail. "Meanwhile, I'm grabbing a shower."

"Why is it I have to call dumb and dumber and you get to take five?"

The dark haired man laughed, flicking a chunk of dried flesh off his thumb in her direction. "That's why."

Kyla spent a second determinedly not turning green before spitting out a clipped, "Fine."

Nate watched her stomping toward the control center, calling out before turning toward their apartment pod on the corridor. "Oh, and darlin'…. Start that prime rib roasting, too, while you're at it."

~CM~CM~CM~CM~

Six hours later, Nate was again returning to his quarters, skin pleasantly flushed with the after effects of overpriced alcohol and excitement of upcoming debauchery. He tugged Kyla along behind him, both of them giggling when she had to jog to keep up.

"I can't believe you did it! I thought he'd kill us both."

Nate shook his head, turning around for a quick kiss while fumbling with the keypad on his door. "Nah. Kyo can be deadly, sure enough. But I've been here longer than you've been alive. He likes me."

"Kyo doesn't like anybody." Kyla closed the door behind them, only mildly exasperated when Nate ripped the top button off her blouse in his haste. "Slow down, Nate. We've got all night."

"Kyo may not like me, but he needs me. Same thing." Nate tossed his own shirt into the corner before returning attention to his conquest of the blonde in front of him. At the rate he was going, it really couldn't be called anything else. "Damn, where does this hook?"

Kyla smirked, sliding the sport bra down her torso and collecting scant panties on the way by. "It doesn't." She kicked both items off the ends of her toe, barely keeping her balance when Nate spun her around against the wall. "Oww. You do own a bed, as I recall."

Nate grunted, grabbing a fist full of her hair and slamming forward to join her in a far more intimate way. "Don't need it."

Kyla staggered, jolted by the onslaught from her lover. "I wasn't…" gasp, breath… "ready…."

"I was." Nate growled more than he spoke, guiding one of Kyla's legs around his waist and biting down hard on her shoulder when he felt the other one wrap his torso. A quick shift of weight and they were on the floor, Nate purging the frustration of a very difficult day. Kyo might be the death of him yet, but not today. Not damn well today.

"Nate…"

"Nate…"

"NATE!"

"WHAT?"

"Door!"

"Door?" Nate struggled to process the word, unable to find meaning in anything but the bruising alabaster skin. There was a thumping noise…

"Can't you hear that?" Kyla panted out each word, desperate for something to breakthrough to the man. Maybe just desperate for air.

"Yeah, I guess." Nate pushed up on his forearms, listening. The banging racket got louder. "Huh. Thought that was your head on the floor." He resumed his previous endeavors with only another second's pause to yell. "It's open!"

"NATE! NO!"

Kyla's protest went unheeded as Zeke slid into the room, an artificial smile plastered on his face.

The noise coming through the door hadn't been exactly subtle, but a guy could still hope he was wrong. How unfortunate to find he wasn't. The younger brunette stared, then gathered his composure. "Nate, come on man. Knock it off. We've got work to do."

"Uh…" groan "Just…" groan "a second." With a final strangled noise Nate collapsed onto the girl below him, sides heaving and palms splayed flat on the floor.

"Get off me, now! How dare you?! Have you lost your mind, Nathaniel? You are _never_ touching me again, you ignorant, disgusting, brute! I am not some sort of public display. Do you hear me?" Kyla's voice was muffled, but the venom was unmistakable.

Nate nodded without moving his bulk, only one hand reaching out to fumble upward behind him.

Zeke sighed and handed him the sought for object, turning away.

"Never again?" Nate raised up and swooped down again with a lightning speed no one should have been capable of. "Yeah, Kyla baby, I hear you."

He stood, grabbing his jeans and wandering toward a table that was covered in the files Zeke had brought. Neither one of them spared a glance backward toward the floor where a now perpetually surprised blonde with six inch blade through her ribs was starting to cool.

Zeke simply shook his head as the older man sat. "Housekeeping must love you."

"That they do, little brother. That they do." Nate picked up a file, squinting at the date. More than thirty years ago. Hmm. "So I took care of the scape goat and getting Bossman drunk as a skunk. What have you got?"

"The answer, of course." Zeke managed a more genuine smile. "Kyo really bought that this is Kyla's fault?"

"Sure. He never liked her that much anyway. Said she kept me too distracted."

The brunette eyed his darker sibling. "Imagine that."

"So, this answer you've got?" Nate waited, fingers idly tapping on the wood.

"I had to go back a ways to find this particular lineage, but I finally came up with a few names. One of which I was able to find a location on."

"Excellent." Nate leaned forward, already plotting an extraction. "And that name would be?"

"Diana Reid."


End file.
